Agree, I personally think UPitt (~5 hours) or Penn State (~3 hours), combined with reputation, costs, etc. are best suited for him. He’s slowly beginning to understand the importance of graduating college without a student loan.
My older son also had his eyes set on UIUC (Mechanical Engineering) but ended up choosing Penn State to graduate debt free. He loved Penn State, and is happy that he didn’t go to UIUC (~11 hour drive) and avoided a student loan that he would need to repay for the next 10-15 years at least. He’s now working with GE Aerospace in Cincinnati and loving his new job.
Have you run the NPC on Villanova? Is it affordable without parental loans?
It sounds like your budget is roughly 35K so with the federal loan their budget is roughly 40K. Anything that doesn’t match that amount should be off the table. So, UF, UIUC, UMD, or UT won’t be within budget.
However, applying to UMD, UIUC and UT wouldn’t make sense, especially for Accounting, which is (logically) standardized, with recruiting everywhere.
If he wants OOS, which is very understandable if he’s lived in PA his whole life, he’ll find new climes&places with excellent universities… within budget.
I assume he’s applying or has applied to PSU (+ Schreyer&Sapphire) and Pitt (+Frederick but the advantages aren’t as big a deal as at PSU).
IU Kelley is a very good school and hopefully he’s applied to Hutton (the Business Honors curriculum is a godsend for Kelley majors). With scholarships he’d have a shot at being within budget.
If he likes college towns like State College or Urbana-Champaign, then he’s got SUNY Binghamton, UDel, or, especially, Miami-Ohio.
If he likes urban like UT Austin, then SUNY Albany or UCincinnati (Cincinnatus scholarship+ Honors within Honors/Business), ASU Barrett or UAZ Honors.
He can also look at Virginia: GMU, JMU, CNU.
(The 5.5K federal loan for freshman year + subsequent loans are what’s reasonable for a college graduate to pay back over 10 years so it’s doable; anything above the cumulated 27K for 4 years and problems arise).
Pitt and PSU are probably the best affordable options. I’m biased to Pitt business because it’s direct admit and much smaller. The other schools other than possibly Kelley will be too expensive.
Our HS probably sends at least 50 to Pitt and PSU combined. Other schools that seem to match cost with scholarships are Ohio State and Michigan State. The thing to look at is most scholarships are only good for four years.
FSU and South Carolina might be affordable with out of state waivers. Both have good business schools. S21 is at FSU now and loves it.
Assuming your son does his part along with some internships the outcomes between the schools should be similar for accounting.
Ok, we visited IU Kelley yesterday and PSU Smeal a couple of weeks back for Admitted Students Day. Just to refresh everyone’s memory from my original post in September 2023, we live in Pennsylvania and my son has admits to and is considering University of Pittsburgh ($38k), Penn State University Smeal ($34k) and Indiana University Kelley (Direct Admit, $50k), all at main campus, for Accounting major. He is leaning toward IU Kelley because of its USN&WR ranking and since his older brother graduated from PSU he doesn’t want to go there. My main concern about IU Kelley is higher cost and farther proximity. I would like him to attend PSU Smeal due to lower cost and closer proximity. Also, other than USN&WR ranking I found PSU and IU very similar in a lot of aspects. Needed your thoughts and advice on how to steer him towards PSU Smeal, or will IU Kelley truly produce better outcomes considering everything else remains the same?
Look at the process and especially the pre-reqs before declaring a major: courses passed, GPA.
Where does he want to work? Smeal will have a stronger network in NYC down to Dc&VA. Kelley will have a stronger network in Chicago and the Midwest.
Did he get into Honors at Kelley? (I know they have a terrible weedout math class only Honors students sort of get out of - all students who can transfer an approved class from a CC or elsewhere rather than taking it at Kelley.)
This is correct. For strong schools like you are considering, accounting outcomes will not be different. I would pick based on which college he likes the best that is within budget with some thought on where he wants to work after graduation.
I am a CPA as is my H and S. With the Big 4 firms one can get a job at any office coming out of any college. My H (many years ago) and my S (much more recently) both interviewed from a Midwest university and had no issue getting jobs in NYC.
ETA: Typically the first interview is on campus and, if the candidate moves forward, the follow-up interview is done wirh the office of choice (in person or remote).
One additional potential consideration is that to become a CPA one needs 150 college credits (a typical bachelors degree is around 120 credits). Some students can get to the 150 credit mark in four years with some combination of APs, overloading, summer classes, etc. but many go on for a one year MS in Accounting. The potential cost of that additional year may be a consideration.
IU Kelley will not produce better outcomes. Penn State is known for having among the best career services among colleges nationwide, and all of the Pitt accounting majors I know had full-time Big 4 offers the summer before their senior years. He will be able to create very similar opportunities at any of these schools.
If there are other reasons that he thinks he might be happier or more successful at IU vs PSU vs Pitt, that’s a different conversation if you can afford Kelley in the first place.
At Direct Admit Day this past weekend, they said they are working with the math department and O’Neill (public policy school) to create a new math class called “finite math for business and public policy.” This is similar to how Kelley designed its own business econ class (which is not the same as liberal arts econ/AP econ). The new finite course will not be ready for this coming Fall. As a result, they said calculus OR finite could be used to fulfill the math requirement. As you can imagine, parents had a lot of follow up questions! Presented with multiple questions about this, the faculty presenting said incoming freshman should double check with their advisors at orientation to confirm that finite would not be required. So … it’s not in writing anywhere yet. But I consider that a positive development.